cuttlefish
Americannoun
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cuttlefish,
plural
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cuttlefishes
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cuttlefish
1400–50; late Middle English codel, Old English cudele cuttlefish + fish
Vocabulary lists containing cuttlefish
Marine Biology - Middle School
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Marine Biology - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Adult cuttlefish typically die after breeding so each mating season is crucial for the species' future, but in recent months, just 440 eggs have been counted, instead of the millions that are usually laid.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
"This year, they were all really skittish... hiding under rocks. Because there's so few cuttlefish hanging out at the moment, they don't have strength in numbers."
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
A spokesperson for South Australia's Department of Primary Industries and Regions said cuttlefish populations "naturally fluctuate" depending on environmental conditions.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
This structure varies widely, from the rounded cuttlebone in cuttlefish to the thin, blade-like gladius in many squid, as well as the spiral shell of the ram's horn squid.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 1, 2026
Feuchtwanger's Tooth Paste.—Powdered myrrh, two ounces; burned alum, one ounce; cream tartar, one ounce; cuttlefish bone, four ounces; drop lake, two ounces; honey, half a gallon.
From The Ladies Book of Useful Information Compiled from many sources by Anonymous
Roger Hanlon of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., and his colleagues recently discovered that cuttlefishes actively express opsin genes throughout their skin, particularly in their fins and underbellies.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 20, 2012
Presumably the octopus and cuttlefish employ the same method of self-defense; they are not the only ones: Extremely sly and subtle fishes Are octopi or cuttlefishes.
From Time Magazine Archive
There are wonderfully complete fossil series, e.g. among cuttlefishes, in which we can almost see evolution in process.
From The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) A Plain Story Simply Told by J. Arthur Thomson
Also very notable was the abundance of predatory cuttlefishes, the bullies of the ancient seas.
From The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) A Plain Story Simply Told by J. Arthur Thomson
The same power of rapid colour-change is seen in cuttlefishes, where it is often an expression of nervous excitement, though it sometimes helps to conceal.
From The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) A Plain Story Simply Told by J. Arthur Thomson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
